Wednesday, November 12, 2014

Book Review-- All the Finer Things by Stephanie Worlton

Dashing strangers, cute dogs, lovable babies, and horrid
ex-husbands make up the basics of All
the Finer Things by Stephanie Connelley Worlton. What could have been a silly and predictable
romance novel, is instead an enjoyable and thoughtful read.

All the Finer Things is the story of Megan, a young bride married to a
wealthy surgeon. She has all the material possessions her heart could want and
a darling baby boy. But as the story opens we discover that her abusive husband
will stop at nothing short of breaking his spirited bride into a subservient
trophy wife.

She endures one last beating
at his hands, takes their baby, and leaves him. She drives away from the
privileged life she knew and finds herself in a small ranching town miles from
the big city. That’s where she meets Ammon, the rugged and handsome Scoutmaster
next door. His lovable but troublesome dog does his best to make sure Meg and
Ammon have plenty of chances to get to know each other better.

Worlton’s book could almost
fall into the “sweet dog romance” genre, but thankfully (at least in my
opinion) doesn’t. The “sweet dog romance” tends to be frilly fluff without much
substance or adventure to the story. The story digs deeper and has too many
interesting storylines to be shelved away under that simplistic category.

It’s not a straight-up romance
novel, where you know from the very introduction of the characters who will
fall in love, and who will get their come-uppance. In some respects it could be
exactly that. But this is also the story of an abused woman who takes control of
her life, and instead of expecting others to fix her problems, makes her own
solutions. She works hard and does what it takes to take care of herself and
her baby.

The almost predictable romance
is harangued by the obvious and simple fact that Meg is married. She may be
married to an abusive jerk, and deserving of the love and affection of a good
man, but that doesn’t make her any less married. It’s not a predictable romance
when the story features a good Mormon man and a married woman, but it’s still a
satisfying romance.

Stephanie Connelley Worlton lives in the shadow
of the Rocky Mountains where she enjoys frequent opportunities to observe
nature and feed her creative spirit. She has been blessed to be a stay at home
mom to her four children, many of whom share her artistic tendencies.

Pages

About Me

Equal parts Mother Teresa, Carrie Bradshaw, Mary Poppins, and Anne Shirley! (A do-gooder, a writer, goes where the wind takes her, and is full of scope for the imagination! And they were all single women!)

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